Vacuum boiling apparatus



June 1962 B. TER BRAAK ET-AL 3,039,523

VACUUM BOILING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 8, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Ber'nu-Jws tevBHm-k Jokoumvzs Gemxmius terBr -k BY WM, +63% I Att a.

June 1962 B. TER BRAAK ET AL 3,039,523

VACUUM BOILING APPARATUS Filed 001;. 8, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Bar mu d1: tavBwu-k Jok m'nc C-avnvdus tavram. k

United States Patent 3,039,523 VACUUM BGILING APPARATUS Bernardus ter Break, Thurledeweg 1 1, Rotterdam, and

Johannes Gerardus ter Braak, Thurledeweg 111, Rottar-rim, Netherlands Filed Oct. 8, 1958, Ser. No. 765,962 Claims priority, application Netherlands Oct. 13, 1957 4 Claims. (Cl. 15944) This invention relates to a vacuum boiling apparatus.

In a prior art apparatus of this type the weight of the charge is utilized only to move the locking means out of or into locking engagement with said disc, the turning of the beam through 180 being effected by means of a gear driven by separate driving means.

The object of the present invention is an apparatus of said type in which the turning movement of the balancing beam through 180 as Well as movement of the locking means is automatically effected by the weight of the charge as soon as the vacuum is broken.

The apparatus according to the invention comprises two containers which are alternately brought into sealing relationship with the lower side of a dome to form a closed vessel therewith, which vessel is connected to a vacuum line. After a vacuum has been established, liquid is supplied to the container sealed to the dome. The containers are suspended from the beam of a balance, which beam is mounted for rotation on an upwardly directed shaft. A downwardly extending arm is mounted on the beam, and on the end of the arm is a transverse member provided with locking means at the ends thereof, which locking means, under the effect of the weight of the container containing a charge, can be moved out of locking engagement with a recess in a cam and locking disc before the rotation of said beam and into locking engagement with the recess after rotation of the beam through 180.

When a container under the dome is filled, the vacuum is broken and the beam. will swing around the horizontal axis about which said balance is pivoted under the influence of the greater Weight of the filled container, so that the locking means will move out of locking engagement with said recess in the cam and locking disc and will move into said recess after the beam has been turned through 180 about the upwardly directed shaft, in which position the effect of the greater weight of the full container is the reverse from the effect before rotation of the beam. As a result the empty container, which due to the rotation of the beam through 180 has arrived beneath the dome, will at the same time be brought to bear against the lower side of the dome, whereupon the vacuum can be reapplied and the empty container can be charged. Thereafter the vacuum is broken again and the containers together with the beam are again turned through 180.

According to the invention the edge of the looking disc guiding the locking means curves around a vertical axis through the intersection of the axis of the upright shaft and the pivot point of beam on the shaft in such a way that the distance between said edge and the vertical axis continuously decreases in the direction from beneath said dome to the side of said upright axis remote from said dome, so that the filled container turning around the axis of said upright shaft through 180 is compelled to move along a permanently descending line, its weight thereby producing the motive and beam rotating power by the reaction force exerted on the locking means by said cam and locking disc. A maximum effect is obtained if the couple produced by the appropriate circumferential shape of the cam and locking disc is enhanced by giving the upwardly directed shaft a slanting position such that it slants upwardly away from the dome.

3,039,523 Patented June 19, 1962 ice The invention will be illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, which more or less diagrammatically show an embodiment of the apparatus. In said drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation view of an apparatus according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the cam and locking disc of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale;

FIGURE 3 is an elevation view of a portion of a modified embodiment of the apparatus.

The apparatus according to the invention comprises a vertical boiler 1 having a coil 2 arranged therein through which coil a liquid solution passes. The solution can be supplied to the coil at 3 by a pump (not shown) and it then flows into the dome 5 through a conduit 4. The dome 5 is secured to the apparatus with one side supported on a support 6 on the vertical boiler and on the other side 7 on the top of upright 8. The upright has an upwardly directed shaft 8a about which a bushing 9 is rotatably mounted. The bushing 9 has a horizontal pivot 10 mounted thereon. A beam 11 is pivotally mounted on the pivot 10 so that it is swingable about a horizontal axis. Two containers 12 and 13 are provided one suspended at each end of the beam 11, the containers being pivotally mounted on pivots 14 and 15 respectively. The swinging movement of containers 12 and 13 about pivots 14 and 15 is limited by means of abutments 16 on the containers, which abutments cooperate with a collar 9a on the bushing 9. Such limitation of the swinging movement of the containers is important for preventing unduly large oscillations of the container when it is emptied.

Two arms 17 are rigidly secured to the beam 111 on either side of the bushing 9 and the upright 8, these arms extending transversely of the beam 11 downwardly along the bushing 9. Arms 17 have a transverse member 18 fixed to the ends thereof, and cam rollers 19 and 20 are mounted at the ends of transverse member 18. The cam rollers 19 and 20 engage the cam edge of the cam and locking disc 21.

The cam and locking disc are shown on a larger scale in FIG. 2. The cam edge on which the rollers 19 and 20 roll during the rotation of the beam 11 around the axis 23 of upright shaft 8a is designated 21a. The edge 21a curves around a vertical axis through the intersection of the axis of the upright shaft 8a and pivot 10, which in this embodiment corresponds to the axis 23 of upright shaft 8a. The edge 21a extends from -a point 21b on the side of axis 23 beneath the dome 5 to a point 210 on the opposite side of axis 23. The distance from edge 21a to the axis 23 decreases progressively in the direction from the point 21b to the point 21c. A locking recess 21d is provided at the end of edge 21a adjacent the point 210.

When a container is located beneath the dome 5, vacuum is produced in the dome 5 by drawing off air through line 22, and the container is drawn tightly against said dome. It is then filled with liquid through conduits 2, 4. After a predetermined time sufficient to permit filling to the required degree, the liquid flow is stopped, and the vacuum is then broken by means of a valve 42 in line 22. Thereupon the filled container will disengage itself from the dome 5, since its weight exceeds the weight of the empty container at the other end of the beam 11, which has been emptied while the first container is filled. The end of beam 11 which has the filled container thereon will swing down, so that the looking roller 19 will move to the position 19' in which it bears against edge 21a, as indicated in FIGURE 2 by dotted lines. As a result the disc 21 will exert a reaction force on the roller 19, which force, as appears from FIGURE 2, has a line of action which passes at a considerable distance from the axis 23 of the upwardly directed shaft 8a, so that a couple is exerted on the beam 11. This couple will cause said beam to rotate horizontally around the upright shaft So. It is true that the distance from the line of action of said reaction force exerted on the roller 19 to the axis 23 will gradually become shorter during the rotation of the beam, but because the rotatable portions of the apparatus have initially had applied thereto an adequate force to overcome the inertia of the moving parts, the beam will continue rotating until the roller 19 snaps into the locking recess 21d in the disc 21, in which position the roller 20 is shown in FIGURE 2. I

During this time the roller 28 has swung to the position in which the roller 19 is shown in FIGURE 2. As a result the empty container 13 has moved upwardly to a position immediately beneath the lower side of the dome 5, so that upon reapplication of the vacuum in the dome 5, the empty container will again be drawn up against the dome to be charged.

In FIGURE 3 a modification of the apparatus is shown, which differs from that shown in FIGURE 1 in that the upwardly directed shaft 8a together with the bushing 9, carrying the pivot 10 for the beam 11 is in a slanting position. In this embodiment the filled container turning around the axis of the upwardly directed shaft 8a through 180 will also follow a permanently descending line. In this embodiment, as in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2, the edge of the cam and locking disc 21' curves around a vertical axis 234:. through the intersection of the axis 23' of the upwardly extending shaft 8a and the pivot 10. This slanting position of the shaft 8a about which the bushing 9 rotates may also be obtained by placing the entire apparatus according to FIGURE 1 in an inclined position. By combining the specially shaped locking disc according to FIGURE 2 with the inclined position of the upwardly directed shaft 8a according to FIGURE 3 it is possible to enhance the couple that will rotate the beam It).

We claim:

1. A vacuum boiling apparatus comprising a downwardly opening dome in which a vacuum can be produced and liquid supply means connected thereto, and a container carrying and swinging means consisting essentially of a beam, a horizontal pivot on which said beam is mounted for movement about a horizontal axis, said pivot being equidistant from both ends of the beam, an upwardly extending shaft on which said pivot is rotatably mounted for rotation around the axis of said shaft, a pair of upwardly open containers one pivotally mounted on each end of said beam for rotation around its own horizontal axis, the upper edge of each vessel being engageable in sealing engagement with the downwardly opening dome, at least one arm on said beam extending transversely and downwardly to said beam from adjacent said pivot, a transverse member having its center fixed to said arm and extending substantially parallel to said beam, rollers on the ends of said transverse member, and a cam and locking disc fixed on said apparatus adjacent said transverse member and having an edge on which said rollers roll, said edge being curved around a vertical axis through the intersection of said pivot axis and the axis of said upright shaft from a point on the side of said vertical axis beneath said dome to a point on the opposite side of said vertical axis, the distance from said edge to said vertical axis progressively decreasing in the direction in which the container which is beneath said dome rotates from beneath said dome to the opposite side of said vertical axis from said dome, said edge having a locking recess therein on the end thereof on the side of said vertical axis opposite said dome, whereby the weighted, full and concentrate containing container causes the rollers to bear against the cam and locking disc and the reaction of the cam and locking disc applies a couple to said beam to rotate it around said upwardly extending shaft and moves the roller moving away from the dome into the locking recess.

2. A vacuum boiling apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said upwardly extending shaft is vertical and the axis thereof corresponds with said vertical axis.

3. A vacuum boiling apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said upwardly extending shaft is inclined to the vertical in a direction away from said dome.

4. A vacuum boiling apparatus comprising a downwardly opening dome in which a vacuum can be produced and liquid supply means connected thereto, and a container carrying and swinging means consisting essentially of a beam, a horizontal pivot on which said beam is mounted for movement about a horizontal axis, said pivot being equidistant from both ends of the beam, an upwardly extending shaft on which said pivot is rotatably mounted for rotation around the axis of said shaft, a pair of upwardly open containers one pivotally mounted on each end of said beam for rotation around its own horizontal axis, the upper edge of each vessel being engageable in sealing engagement with the downwardly opening dome, at least one arm on said beam extending transversely to said beam from adjacent said pivot, a transverse member having its center fixed to said arm and extending substantially parallel to said beam, rollers on the ends of said transverse member, a cam and locking disc fixed on said apparatus adjacent said transverse member and having an edge on which said rollers roll, the weight of the container which is beneath the dome at a given time during the operation of the device causing a couple on said beam, arm and transverse member urging one of the rollers on said transverse member against a point on the edge of said cam and locking disc which is on one side of a vertical axis through the intersection of said pivot axis and the axis of said upright shaft, said edge being curved around said vertical axis from said point to the opposite side of said vertical axis, the distance from said edge to said vertical axis progressively decreasing in the direction in which the roller urged by the couple produced by the container under the dome will move along said edge when the container which is beneath said dome rotates from beneath said dome to the opposite side of said vertical axis from said dome, said edge having a locking recess therein on the end thereof on the side of said vertical axis opposite said point, whereby the weighted, full and concentrate containing container causes the rollers to bear against the cam and locking disc and the reaction of the cam and locking disc causes a couple to said beam to rotate it around said upwardly extending shaft and moves the roller urged by the moment produced by the full container into the locking recess.

References (Sites! in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 806,848 Shaw Dec. 12, 1905 FOREIGN PATENTS 886,408 Germany Aug. 13, 1953 512,891 Belgium Aug. 14, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,039,523 June 19, 1962 Bernardus 'ter Break et a1.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered petent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

In the heading to the printed specification, line 7, for

"Claims priority, application Netherlands Oct. 13, 1957" read Claims priority, application Netherlands Oct. 10, 1957 Signed and sealed this 19th day of March 1963.

(SEAL) Attest:

DAVID L. LADD ESTON G. JOHNSON Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

